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Monday, August 20, 2012

DC: National Aquarium & American History Museum

So since Otakon ended early afternoon on Sunday, Sak and I walked down to Baltimore's Inner Harbor in search of the National Aquarium.

There it is, past the realm of dragons!

I had high hopes for the national aquarium, but then again, Monterey Bay and Osaka are pretty top notch. Though this aquarium wasn't the best I've ever seen, it wasn't bad at all - I liked the layout, especially the part that made you feel like you were on a boat!

An electric eel!

Saw shark!

They also had a dolphin show, which not a lot of aquariums can claim.

Loved this jellyfish art installation.

A look back at Inner Harbor.

I bought this shirt for Penga-Sis since she loves otters and I love Star Wars. LOL.

For lunch, we ate at this chain called Noodles & Company. Though kinda expensive for noodles, I really liked the concept of the eatery - they sold all types of noodles in different styles - from pad thai to mac cheese to pesto! Apparently there's a few locations here in CA, but none in the bay area.

The next day we took the train from Baltimore to DC. After disembarking at union station, we got our first look at the capitol!

The architecture is amazing!

And....a duck boat. Haha!

After finding my cousins house and unloading our luggage, we took the metro to our first Smithsonian museum. Since we were in the capitol, we thought it would be best to start at the American History Museum to brush up on our history.

And uh. One floor took us FOUR hours to go through. I like museums. I like to read signs and plaques at museums. It was very clear that there was absolutely no way we'd be able to really see all the museums like I'd hoped we would. We had to pick and choose even the exihibits to see in each museum, and we had to stop reading each and every sign - which I'm still really bummed out about! But I think the only way you could see everything is to live in DC for like, a summer or something.

But in any case, it was a pretty cool museum. The only thing I took issue with was the electric age exhibit - it could have featured more Tesla and less Edison if you ask me! Contrary to commonly held belief, Edison is not the only guy in the electric business. :P (I fully admit to being a Tesla fangirl. If such a thing exists @_@)

Old school toaster. That's..safe looking.

Washington..the roman god?

Awesome exhibit on First Ladies. They had all their dresses on display, so pretty!

Michelle Obama's famous dress, complete with Jimmy Choos!

I had no idea each White House family gets to pick their own china! From the red - Reagan, Clinton, Bush.

Stuffed Civil War horse. @_@

In the currency section, here's a Pismo clam dollar! Haha!

Leg makeup to look like stockings, which were war rationed!

WWII propaganda posters..doesn't the one on the right look like Vader?!

After just one day and one (air-conditioned) museum - I knew I would love DC. It was even better going back to my cousins house for a home cooked meal and some olympics. Most my family is in California, so it was kinda neat to go on vacation and still get to visit family members!